BOULDER — After saluting five Colorado seniors Saturday night after an emotional 67-57 victory over Nebraska in their final home game, Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle turned toward the sellout crowd at the Coors Events Center. There was something else to say.
“We’re not finished yet! We’re not finished yet!” Boyle said.
Three days after Colorado’s chances at earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament appeared to be on life support when, as Boyle described it, the Buffs “laid an egg” in a 95-90 loss at Iowa State, Colorado just might have hopped back on the bubble.
It’s March — a wonderful time for a college basketball team to have regained a spring in its step.
“We’re not a consistent team,” Boyle said. “But we sure are resilient.”
Getting 19 points from senior Marcus Relphorde and a solid defense by everyone, Colorado (19-12, 8-8 Big 12) finished the final Big 12 regular season with its first non-losing league record since going 9-7 in 2006.
More important, CU secured the No. 5 seed at this week’s Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., drawing the league’s last-place team in a first-round game at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Yes, the opponent will be Iowa State (16-15, 3-13).
“Obviously the higher the seed the better,” Relphorde said. “We like the fact that we’re playing Iowa State again because of what happened in Ames.”
Fellow seniors Cory Higgins and Levi Knutson reminded Boyle afterward that Colorado had been picked by the league’s coaches to finish ninth in a preseason poll.
“It was a great night for Colorado basketball, in a lot of different ways, on a lot of different levels,” Boyle said.
With a vocal crowd of 11,112 doing its best to help, Colorado turned out the lights for Big 12 Conference play at the Coors Events Center as the Buffs prepare to enter the Pac-12 this summer. It was only fitting that the team’s senior leader, Higgins, would make sure there would be a victory celebration.
Higgins broke a double-team trap near the CU bench with a strong dribble, and then blew past two more Husker defenders for a driving layup to put the Buffs up 59-50 with 2:25 remaining.
Nebraska (19-11, 7-9) also held out hopes to remain on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament bid, but that likely has burst. Down by as many as a dozen points early, the Huskers pulled to within 42-41 with 12:12 to go but could never pull even. Colorado answered every spurt by its long-time rivals. Nebraska is bolting the Big 12 to go to the Big Ten.
“Colorado had guys step up,” Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. “That’s what good teams do.”
Colorado overcame an off night by sophomore guard Alec Burks (12 points on 3-for-11 shooting), who also may have played in his final home game. Burks has said he will wait until after the season to decide whether to declare for the 2011 NBA draft.
The Buffaloes avenged a 79-67 loss at Lincoln on Jan. 18.
“We’re not done yet,” Knutson said.
FG FT Reb
NU (19-11, 7-9) Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Diaz 27 4-7 0-2 2-3 0 0 8
McCray 24 4-7 0-1 0-7 2 5 10
Walker 17 2-3 2-4 1-3 0 0 7
Beranek 15 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 1 0
Jeter 32 4-7 1-1 0-6 7 1 10
Jones 11 1-5 0-0 1-1 3 0 3
Richardson 16 1-2 2-2 0-3 2 4 5
Ubel 23 4-9 1-1 1-4 0 0 9
Niemann 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Gallegos 17 0-4 0-0 0-2 0 4 0
Almeida 16 2-3 1-4 1-1 0 1 5
Totals 200 22-50 7-15 8-34 14 17 57
Percentages: FG .440, FT .467. 3-point goals: 6-18, .333 (McCray 2-5, Walker 1-1, Richardson 1-1, Jeter 1-3, Jones 1-4, Gallegos 0-1, Ubel 0-1, Beranek 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4 (Almeida 2, Diaz 2). Turnovers: 15 (Walker 4, Jeter 3, Jones 2, Richardson 2, Beranek, Diaz, McCray, Gallegos). Steals: 3 (McCray 2, Gallegos). Technical fouls: McCray.
FG FT Reb
CU (19-12, 8-8) Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Dufault 19 2-4 0-0 0-3 0 3 4
Relphorde 31 5-12 6-6 1-5 2 2 19
Burks 33 3-11 6-8 1-2 3 1 12
Higgins 34 5-12 2-2 0-3 3 1 12
Knutson 29 5-10 0-0 0-3 2 1 13
Tomlinson 16 0-0 1-2 0-1 1 1 1
Sharpe 8 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
Beckley 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Coney 2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Roberson 25 2-4 0-0 3-10 1 2 4
Totals 200 23-56 15-18 7-32 12 12 67
Percentages: FG .411, FT .833. 3-point goals: 6-13, .462 (Relphorde 3-3, Knutson 3-5, Roberson 0-1, Higgins 0-1, Burks 0-3). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 5 (Roberson 3, Dufault 2). Turnovers: 5 (Burks 2, Roberson, Relphorde, Tomlinson). Steals: 9 (Relphorde 4, Roberson 2, Burks, Higgins, Tomlinson). Technical fouls: None.
Nebraska 28 29 — 57
Colorado 33 34 — 67
A — 11,112. Officials —Ted Hillary, Warren Evans, Pat Boeh.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
